Rumor: Antonio Di Natale turns down New York Red Bulls offer no one knew he had

Antonio Di Natale scored a goal in his last appearance for Udinese - a 2-1 loss to Carpi - and subsequently announced he was deferring any decisions about his future until after a holiday with his family. The 38-year-old striker is out of contract, and is assumed to be weighing offers to play on for another club with whatever role Udinese might be willing to offer one of its all-time greats.

Most recently, reports out of Italy suggest Di Natale has been approached by Spezia Calcio, an ambitious Serie B outfit which represents a chance for the forward to keep playing, stay in Italy, but not have to face Udinese (a Serie A club).

Fantagazzetta.com shoehorns this news alongside the suggestion Di Natale has turned down offers from clubs in MLS and China.

Fair enough, he has been linked to MLS in the past. There was even a somewhat surprising suggestion that "New York" might have offered him something like a $9 million contract. But that was back in the 2015 off-season, before RBNY's RalfBall imperatives became clear - and it still seemed unlikely that "New York" meant the Red Bulls.

In 2016? Well, signing a proven but ageing goal scorer is not the craziest thing a soccer club has ever done, but it doesn't seem to fit with RBNY's transfer objectives these days.

Nor indeed, did Di Natale seem all that interested in MLS as recently as March, when he said "MLS is not for me".

Nonetheless, Fantagazzetta suggests the New York Red Bulls are among the clubs Di Natale has turned down. Perhaps they were referring to last year's rumor?